A fish is an animal which lives and breathes in water. All fish are vertebrates (have a backbone and an internal skeleton made of bone or cartilage)
and most breathe through gills and have fins and scales. Fish make up about half of all known vertebrate species.
Fish are cold-blooded animals, meaning their bodies are the same temperature as the water around them.
Fish come in many shapes, sizes and colors.

One may choose from thousands of different types of fish.
Some of the more popular types of aqaurium fish include everything from tetras, barbs and catfish to guppies, mollies and goldfish.
Siamese fighting fish are another popular choice because they do not require aeration and can live in smaller spaces than
some other fish.

Feeding Your Fish:

You must care for your fish to make sure they stay healthy. Food is very important. Don't just feed them the same-old flakes.
Vary their diet and offer them plenty of live food. You'll notice the difference in the health and vigor of your fish almost immediately.
Feed them the right amounts: Twice daily as much as the fish will eat in several minutes.

Microworms (and other Nematodes):

The Greek word "Nema" means "thread", so these worms (nematodes) might also be referred to as "threadworms."
Nematodes are minute, colorless, unsegmented, smooth, cylindrical worms that are
rarely more than 1/16 of an inch in length.
Microworms are usually used as a substitute for baby brine shrimp since they are roughly the same size.
They are highly nutritious and are abundant at times when other food sources may be hard to get.

Microworms areExcellent for Fish Fry

Aquarium Maintenance:

Regular water changes are very important to the health of your aquariuim. An aquarium filter does remove
most of the harmful chemicals that can build up in your tank, but they can't remove all
harmful substances that can accumulate.
The best way to renew your aquarium water is to change out 10% - 20% of the water every week or two.

Depending on the kind of fish, the water may need to be tested for pH, ammonia and nitrites. Your pet store may offer a service to test the water if you bring in a small sample or you may purchase a test kit which comes with instructions to test the water at home.

Scrape the inside of the tank with a algae cleaner every couple weeks. Keep your filter catridge clean and flowing.
Be sure to plant several live plants in your aquarium. Live plants are excellent in promoting a healthy tank environment
and for filtering out toxic chemicals while replacing them with oxygen.

Fish Density:

Don't overcrowd your fish tank.
About 15-16 fish will be happy and comfortable in a 20-gallon tank with several plants and decorations.
The general rule is one, one-inch fish per gallon of water that you put into the tank. Remember that your plants and landscaping materials
also take up space.

Fish Fry:

Fish fry are newborn baby fish! They are divided into two categories: livebearers and egglayers.
Livebearer fry such as swords, platys, mollies, and guppies are generally much bigger than egglayer fry and
therefore can be fed baby brine shrimp or microworms from the beginning.

Most fry from egglayers are too small to eat baby brine shrimp when they first hatch.
These smaller fry can be fed microworms,
pulverized flake food, freeze dried fry foods, infusoria and rotifers.
Also, hard boiled egg yolks can be squeezed through coarse cloth, but this can be messy and foul the tank.
When fry get large enough the food of choice is baby brine shrimp
or microworms.

Breeding Fish

For the beginning fish breeder, we recommend learning by breeding Mollies, which are a live bearer.
Mollies are a good fish to start learning about breeding fish because they are the easiest
fish to breed, and you can quickly learn a lot about breeding fish by breeding Mollies.

All Mollies are the same species, so all the various colors and shapes of Mollies can breed, and any female can breed with any male.

Mollies are a great speciesfor learning how to breed fish

Here is a list of tips that will help you successfully breed mollies:

Mollies need plenty of room- They don't do well in small aquariums.
Each adult Molly will need 3 to 5 gallons of water, so 5 adult Mollies will need a 15 to 25 gallon aquarium tank.

The aquarium water temperature should be warm (78° - 82° F)

The aquarium water should be slighly saline. Add one tablespoon of aquarium Salt per each five gallons of aquarium water.

Water quality if very important. Change a small amount of your aquarium water weekly.

Be sure your female Mollies are not being harrassed and stressed by other fish.
Once the female is impregnated, remove the males or be sure there are lots of female Mollies and just a few male Mollies.

When your female Molly is big and looks like she's about to release babies, move her to another aquarium
so that the fry will not be eaten by larger fish. Or, use a device such as a Aquarium Net Breeder, which
separates the fry behind netting held together by a plastic frame. Once the babies are released,
remove the female molly from the device. The baby fish can be released from the device once they have about
doubled in size.

Once you have successfully breed mollies, you will have the confidence and knowledge to move onto other more difficult
types of fish to breed.

Other Fish Breeding Tips:

Make sure that you have the necessary equipment before you start breeding fish. If you don't have the space to keep the fry and don't have anyone you can give them to, please don't keep males and females in the same tank. This is especially applicable to those keeping livebearer fish like Mollies, Platies, the Guppy and the Swordtail.

When breeding tropical freshwater fish, always make note of temperature, ph, water quality, food intake and unusual behavior.
That way you can breed fish again easily by recreating these conditons or by observing unusual behavior between pairs.

Please Note:
The information contained on this page is by no means meant to be a comprehensive list of everything
you need to know to successfully keep and breed aquarium fish. It contains only the basics. Please
thoroughly research the subject of aquarium fish care before setting up your first tank.